The 2008 National Christmas Tree Lighting is on December 4, 2008 at 5 p.m.  Kaitlyn, who came to national attention as one of the ten finalists in this year’s “America’s Got Talent” competition, will round out the show at this special holiday tradition in Washington, DC.  It will include live entertainment including a diverse program of holiday music, including traditional songs, with dashes of Texas swing, Latin rhythms, and a little Motown. Artists include country music star, Rissi Palmer; multiple Grammy winner Jon Secada; and popular Nashville singer/songwriter Phil Vassar. Washington-based dance troupe Step Afrika! will perform, and the U. S. Army Chorus’s SFC Steve Cramer will appear as Santa Claus. source

I never agreed with Kaitlyn going as far as she did on America’s Got Talent, but as we can see from this upcoming performance, her parents are determined to get her into the entertainment industry.  At least this time, not inappropriately in Vegas, but with Santa.

When Kermit and the gang cause three letters on their way to Santa Claus to go missing, the troupe sets off to save Christmas for the letter-writers. The musical special will feature special appearances by Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Griffiths, Jane Krakowski, Petra Nemcova, Uma Thurman, Tony Sirico, Steve Schirripa, Michael Bloomberg, Madison Pettis and Paul Williams. Check your local listings, airing Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 8pm ET on NBC.  You won’t want to miss this one, set your VCR if you can’t be home! 

picture and source

Thursday, Suri and mommy on the way back home to their NYC apartment.  I love those ruby slippers!

Randy describes himself as angry, blunt, mean and sarcastic (yet charming), and admits he’s a train wreck.  Well, except for the charming part, he was right!  Randy rubbed most of his cast mates the wrong way and Sugar led the pack in fighting back.  Randy is led to believe that the immunity idol that Bob gives him is real. Sugar organizes the whole thing and makes a laughing stock out of Randy.  "The tribe has spoken" and Randy leaves in absolute shock!

Academy-Award winning actress and film producer, Reese Witherspoon speaks candidly in this Sunday’s issue of PARADE about her divorce with Ryan Phillippe, feeling unsure about marriage with Jake Gyllenhaal and the biggest detriment in her life — tabloid fame.  On newsstands this week! picture

Irish actor, Colin Farrell, after helping with Special Olympics he keeps on raising awareness for disabled children, posing for a calendar for the Spanish association Apsa. To purchase the calendar and to contribute, click on their website here.

Cody Linley won’t be graduating "Dancing with the Stars." The 18-year-old "Hannah Montana" actor and his professional partner, Julianne Hough, were eliminated Tuesday from ABC’s popular dancing competition.

The pair received a total score of 46 out of 60 from judges for their paso doble and salsa routines Monday. After viewer votes were combined with the judges’ scores, the Disney actor was ousted.

Rapper Snoop Dogg is offering fatherly advice to President-elect Obama. The father of three(two boys Cordell, 11, and Corde, 14, and a girl Cori,9) says that President-elect Obama just needs to do one thing in order to score points at his kids’ sleepovers. Snoop says, “Mr. President needs to learn how to bake a cake. That’s points for the man of the house - because I did that. I bake cakes and popcorn and cotton candy…”Then they like for you to get out of their face and let them be kids.”

The hip-hop star is certain that if the President-elect were to follow his advice, not only would Sasha,7, and Malia,10, be kept out of the spotlight, but the President-elect would also win cool points with his daughters. Source

Not that our children should be eating fast food, but if they do, the good news is that Burger King Corp. said it is cutting the amount of sodium in its kids meals and promoting menu combinations with less than 650 calories.

High levels of sodium can lead to higher blood pressure, which is a key ingredient in heart disease and strokes.

We can only hope that other fast food restaurants will follow suit.

Actor Jack Black stayed on the sidelines Tuesday afternoon as wife Tanya Haden Black and 2-year-old son Samuel Jason play in the sandbox at Coldwater Canyon Park in Beverly Hills.

Jack, 39, and Tanya are also parents to second son Thomas David, 5 months. Pic and Source

Below: Tina Meier holds two pictures of her daughter Megan who committed suicide in 2006 after receiving cruel messages on MySpace. Inset: Ashley Grills who denies instigating MySpace attack.

Trial started Wednesday in a cyber-bullying trial with a federal prosecutor asking a Los Angeles jury to find that a Missouri woman "hatched a plot to prey on the psyche of a 13-year-old girl" that ended in suicide.

Drew, who lives in a St. Louis suburb, could get up to 20 years in prison if convicted of one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization. Jurors could also convict her of a misdemeanor. Source: People

Target said it will aggressively cut prices to give consumers bargains during the holiday season, after weak sales of its apparel and home offerings led third-quarter earnings to fall 24%.

The discount retailer also said sales in established stores have been weak so far in November, and if that persists it expects fourth-quarter earnings below analyst expectations. source

Well, this means a break for consumers and we all know - we need it!

A primate species that looks like a living, breathing version of the Furby electronic toy has been found alive in the forested highlands of an Indonesian island for the first time in more than 70 years, scientists announced Tuesday.

Three specimens of the pygmy tarsier, a nocturnal creature about the size of a small mouse, were trapped and tracked this summer on Mount Rorekatimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Texas A&M University reported.

Pygmy tarsiers rank among the rarest of the many tarsier species in Asia and the Pacific — and in fact some primatologists had written them off as extinct.

They have the distinctive, big-eyed look often associated with Furbys, gremlin-like talking toys that were popular in the late 1990s. Compared with the robotic Furbys, however, the real animals’ dimensions are seriously downsized: They typically measure less than 4 inches (105 mm) from head to tail, with most of that length being tail. They weigh less than 2 ounces. And unlike Furbys, they hardly ever vocalize. To read the full story, click here.

Russell Crowe paused on the set of his new movie State of Play in Los Angeles, to give son Charlie, 5 next month, a kiss, while younger son Tennyson, 2, rested on comfortably on his shoulders. This is one of the most adorable pics that I have seen of a celeb dad with his kids.

For 200 years, chlorine bleach has been the go-to chemical for obliterating germs, but scientists are just beginning to uncover how the caustic stuff kills bacteria and other microbes.

A team of molecular biologists has now revealed part of the process by which bleach eliminates microbes by accident.

Jakob and her team were studying a bacterial protein known as heat shock protein 33 (Hsp33), which acts as a "molecular chaperone," protecting proteins from reactions that could harm them. Hsp33’s role is particularly important when cells are under stress, for example when temperatures rise because of a fever.

"At high temperatures, proteins begin to lose their three-dimensional molecular structure and start to clump together and form large, insoluble aggregates, just like when you boil an egg," said study lead author Jeannette Winter, one of Jakob’s postdoctoral researchers. Like a boiled egg, those proteins can never revert to their previous state, and the stressed cells eventually die.

While using bleach will certainly kill the germs on your kitchen counter or in your tub, it is also hazardous to the environment after it’s washed down the drain, as well as to your health if the room you’re working in isn’t properly ventilated.

Cleansers with bleach also promote a climate of germophobia in America, some experts have said, noting that you only need to wipe away the germs, not kill them. Using antimicrobial products excessively can contribute to antibiotic resistance by weeding out the weaker germs and leaving only the ones that are harder to kill. Source

Oscar winning actress Cloris Leachman, who saw a resurgence in her popularity recently on the TV show "Dancing with the Stars," has been hospitalized for pneumonia, celebrity TV show Entertainment Tonight reported on Monday.

A spokeswoman for Leachman was not immediately available to confirm the report.  "She is currently at her home, and is expected to tape something for ‘Dancing with the Stars’ later this week," the spokeswoman said.

Leachman, 82, became the oldest contestant ever when she appeared on this season’s "Dancing with the Stars".  She won a large fan base for her good sense of humor on the program, but was eliminated sixth in the competition.  We wish her a speedy recovery.

P.S. Arts "Express Yourself 2008" is a magical day to make a dent with contribution, attendance and participation to support the resoration of art education in public schools. 

Calista Flockhart and her 7 1/2-year-old son, Liam.

Camryn Manheim and her 7-year-old son, Milo.

Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin with their two daughters, Delilah, 10, and Amelia, 7.

Constance Zimmer posed with her 10-month-old daughter Colette.

Denise Richards and her two daughters Sam, 4 1/2, and Lola, 3 1/2.

Sara Gilbert and son Levi, 4.

 Ricky Schroder, his wife and their two daughters.

Pregnant Julie Bowen and 19 month old son, Oliver.

pictures and source

The Jonas Brothers – (from left) Kevin, Joe and Nick – can’t wait to celebrate Christmas this year at their new Dallas home. "We’re huuuge Christmas fans," says Kevin (with dad Kevin Sr., mom Denise, 8-year-old brother Frankie and Nick’s dog Elvis in an L.A. studio). One of their treasured traditions? Helping Mom with her cookie-making, which is a "five-day event."

When it comes to his favorite Christmas tree ornament, Nick, 16, looks to his past as a theater kid. "I love the ones I have from when I was in (a Broadway production of) A Christmas Carol, especially the Ghost of Christmas Past" he says. picture and source

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: Superstars Deidre Hall (Marlena) and Drake Hogestyn (John) are the first two caulties of DAYS’s massive budget cuts.  To read the full story, check out the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest. Picture and Source

Talk about a turnaround — Britney Spears started 2008 barricaded inside her L.A. home with her son while the police and ambulances waited outside. And now, less than 11 months later, she’s got a hit single, an album ready to drop in two weeks, a 2009 tour in the works, and OK! has just confirmed that she’ll be taking part in one the biggest annual Yuletide tradition: the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree!  Way to go Britney!

To check out the tree-lighting ceremony for yourself, tune into NBC on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. ET.